“Xinfang,” or petitioning to authorities, has been one of the channels for the Chinese people to air grievances and seek justice since ancient times. But it has taken a new and disturbing shape in the current era of economic reform. In fact, there has been an ever intensifying, nationwide, though uncoordinated, active petition movement in China since the late 1980s.

China may be the second largest trading partner of the U.S.,[1. http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/dst/2007/09/balance.html.] but the road to this increasingly close relationship has not been smooth. There have been a lot more failures and struggles in these cross-border business interactions than successes.…

In recent years, but especially since the 1990s, the U.S. and China have become increasingly economically interdependent. For most of that time, both economies have been doing well, and for much of it, growing at historic highs for both. Today,…

My introduction to Chinese scientists was at Dulles Airport in April 1974, two years after President Nixon’s historic visit. My assignment – actually my very first job -- was to escort Chinese seismologists around the United States for a month,…

In 2000, a meeting at a prominent Atlanta school about the possibility of starting a Chinese language program concluded with a question about the need to study “Red China.” Additional questions followed, about the likely interest of students – let…